The brothers' secretive and sprawling empire, founded in 1881 by their grandfather J.D. Irving, dominates the economy of the Maritime Provinces including New Brunswick. Speculation continued that the company could be broken up. Its Irving Oil, which owns Canada's largest refinery, is benefiting from the global boom in fuel prices. With Spain's Repsol, developing a liquid natural gas terminal with 1-billion-cubic-feet daily capacity in St. John, N.B. Irving trio also controls 600 gas stations, 3.6 million acres of timberland in Canada and Maine, and 4 daily newspapers. New Brunswick's first non-Irving owned newspaper in years was published in 2007 by ex-Irving employee, ending media monopoly in province, despite injunction filed by Irvings that was eventually lifted.